MANAGED COMPETITION REVIEW TO LAST MONTHS

San Diego 
The push by Mayor Bob Filner to review and possibly revamp how managed competition is used at City Hall is expected to be completed by November and the city won’t be putting additional services up for competitive bid with the private sector until then.

The Mayor’s Office updated a City Council committee Wednesday on the status of managed competition following Filner’s decision to review the overall program. He initially put a halt to all competitions when he took office in December but later eased that restriction by allowing implementation of successful bids for certain services.

To date, the five competitions that have been conducted have been won by city employees, but only one — the city’s print shop — has had its proposed changes implemented. The combined annual savings for all five was projected at $12.2 million by former Mayor Jerry Sanders. Filner has questioned that projection.

The other four are close to implementation. The mayor’s staff said street sweeping should be done next month with fleet maintenance and street and sidewalk maintenance not far behind. Landfill operations should be completed by July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.

That leaves five other services — most notably trash collection — ready for bidding but on the sidelines until Filner finishes his review. He is collecting input from unions, the City Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Independent Budget Analyst, and plans to compile those recommendations for review by the end of April. That information will then be analyzed and presented to the council in late July. Negotiations with unions could then take another few months.

Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and Mark Kersey urged the mayor’s staff to let the five sidelined competitions proceed while the review is conducted.

Responded Filner: “I appreciate their advice. No, they’re going to be on hold.”